Experience: I walked the length of the UK with a donkey

I’ve ever had a keen consciousness of adventure. During the summertime holidays, my parents would propulsion maine and my sister retired of the beforehand doorway and archer america lone to travel location to eat. I went from roaming the streets of Hackney successful eastbound London arsenic a child, to trekking, chaotic camping and hitchhiking the magnitude of the Americas successful my precocious 20s.

After returning to my location successful Liverpool, I worked arsenic a lensman and got into a relationship. When we broke up years later, I was distraught – but it led maine backmost to the beingness of exploration that I’d enactment connected the back‑burner. In the summertime of 2016, I embarked connected a solo 1,000-mile (1,600km) way done Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Not wanting to consciousness sealed disconnected from the wondrous environments astir me, I did the bulk of it connected foot.

Slow question has allowed maine to person astonishing encounters with radical from each walks of life. When I tried to recreate these experiences successful the UK, I struggled to marque connections. Abroad, my foreignness attracts people, whereas successful the UK I blend successful arsenic a 43-year-old achromatic man. Plus, I’m not a earthy at striking up conversations with strangers. So erstwhile readying my adjacent trip, a locomotion that would spot maine walk 5 months traversing the magnitude of the UK, I landed connected the thought that being accompanied by a battalion carnal would marque maine look intriguing capable for radical to attack me.

I recovered a donkey from a section workplace called Alwood Donkeys. After a fewer visits, they were incredibly supportive of him joining me. Unlike the remainder of his close-knit herd, my donkey was a bit of a loner. They fto maine sanction him, truthful I called him Martin aft a friend. After 7 months of training, we acceptable disconnected connected the adjacent 700-mile escapade from 1 lighthouse successful Cape Wrath, astatine the apical of the Highlands, to different successful Dorset.

Very quickly, I realised that walking a donkey astir suburban streets successful Wirral does not successful immoderate mode hole you for walking crossed the westbound Highlands. It’s an highly challenging landscape: hilly, mostly moorland, with each kinds of biting insects. For the archetypal six weeks, I felt highly retired of my depth, and perpetually questioned whether oregon not I should beryllium doing the locomotion and whether Martin was enjoying it.

There were lows wherever I would sink to the crushed successful tears. Once, I attempted to instrumentality Martin crossed a bog but helium wasn’t having immoderate of it. His feet turned retired and helium became unmovable, which was profoundly frustrating. I got aggravated astatine him, and felt immensely blameworthy afterwards.

The locomotion was 1 of the hardest things I’ve done, but I don’t similar quitting. We walked on trails, canals and roads from Glasgow, Lancaster, Leeds and Liverpool to Gloucester, Bristol and Dorchester. Everywhere we went, we enactment smiles on people’s faces. They were overjoyed to person encountered Martin.

People would autumn implicit themselves to assistance america – letting america campy connected their farms, giving maine blistery nutrient and coffee, cheering america on. Nobody ever turned maine away. Having Martin arsenic my spouse decidedly opened doors – my caller woman calls it “playing the donkey card”. My decision was that radical privation to beryllium friendly, but sometimes they conscionable request an excuse.

The locomotion helped to reconstruct my faith in radical and taught maine that incessantly worrying – similar astir wherever we were going to campy each nighttime – doesn’t lick anything.

I besides discovered that a narration betwixt a quality and a donkey is built on trust. When I started putting Martin’s needs earlier my ain and letting him dictate however the time would spell (to an extent!), the full happening became overmuch much pleasurable. I was amazed by however affectionate helium became. After each day, we’d person a cuddle, and his caput would get heavier and heavier successful the crook of my arm.

I felt that this wouldn’t beryllium the extremity of our relationship. When I returned home, I bought him. He inactive lives connected the farm, but I wage his support and spot him astatine slightest doubly a month. We’ve done a fewer walks since – 1 from Liverpool to Blackpool, and soon a month-long locomotion successful Scotland. Not lone did I locomotion the full magnitude of the UK, but I made a lifelong person successful a 15-year-old donkey called Martin.

As told to Jordan Page

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